April 7, 1964
Bruno Viveiros Martins
The first Popular Culture Center of the National Union of Students was created, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1961, at
third floor of its headquarters, at Praia do Flamengo, No. 132.
UNE's CPCs sought to build a "national, popular, and democratic" culture, and their goal was to create and promote a "popular art in service of social revolution."
This proposal soon gained the support of several artists and intellectuals such as Ferreira Gullar, Paulo Pontes, Carlos Lyra, Armando Costa, Francisco de Assis, João das Neves, among many others. Its founders declared: "our art will only go where the people can follow it, understand it, and make use of it." To this end, the group staged theatrical plays at factory gates, favelas, and unions; published popular booklets; and offered courses in theater, film, visual arts, and philosophy. In addition, it published books such as the
Street Guitar
a collection of poems by Vinícius de Moraes, Paulo Mendes Campos, Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna, and released the film
Five times favela,
divided into five episodes, directed by filmmakers who would later become major names in Brazilian cinema.
In 1962, the CPC recorded and distributed the album
The people sing
, with the goal of fulfilling the function that its members assigned to art: addressing Brazilian problems, such as underdevelopment and land grabbing, using language accessible to as broad a public as possible. Sales of this record raised funds for the construction of the UNE's CPC Theater, but after the military coup on March 31, 1964, it was withdrawn from circulation by censorship. On April 7, the Centro Popular de Cultura of the UNE was officially shut down. In October of that same year, the Federal Congress approved the bill to dissolve the União Nacional dos Estudantes.
Image description: The image is a black-and-white photograph. In the center, there is a large crowd of people gathered, apparently at a public event. Above the photo, the words "centro popular de cultura" are written in black on a yellow background. Below the photo, repeated several times, are the words "o povo canta" in black on the same yellow background.Capa disco do CPC “O Povo Canta”. Data: 1963. Acervo: Projeto República-UFMG.